7 comments:

This is great. I will be sharing this with my fraternity. Every year that goes by its seems as though a few fraternities ignore those who are less fortunate and perpetuate the stereotype that fraternities are all stuck up rich boys. Thank you for this!

I think something that should be added to this is "I'm a woman." I am a current member of a CO-ED Fraternity. I am not in a Sorority, I am not in a Frasorority. I am in a FRATERNITY, and I am PROUD OF IT. Because only strong women pledge Frats.

My Colony of Delta Chi has always had two things every member has in common, No members have any reason to know each other besides the Fraternity, and no member ever expected to join a Fraternity. This is practically our creed, and I'm damn proud to see this attitude other places as well.

The first few lines were significant to me because I met that young man exactly as the scenario describes. But after that, the range is too wide. A great fraternity chapter is not a dorm - a collection of random individuals. A great fraternity chapter - great in the eyes of 19-year olds - recruits members who are compatible and who are focused on ensuring that the chapter continues to be a powerful player. Yes, it is an interesting conflict: some of the bery men that would most benefit from membership are men you cannot afford to have join.I joined a weak chapter. Through struggle I learned hard lessons about how to make it powerful. The biggest mistake is thinking that 'programming' can make great members out of anyone. That's not true. The top fraternities attract top men, and men make the fraternity.

I would have to disagree with part of your statement. While I do agree that a great fraternity chapter is not a dorm and that the members must be at least able to get along, not a single one of those statements is problematic. I can think of someone--close friends and brothers--for quite a lot of these statements. My chapter, like many others, strive to accept men for their internal worth and values and to look past what hand, for better or worse, they have been dealt. Whether a man is blind, a parent, sick, lonely, lost, or running, or any of the others, he does not make a chapter weak or strong. The strength of the chapter comes from the internal strength of the brothers. The only man that you cannot afford to have join is one that does not have virtue, integrity, or an upstanding moral character. The only programming is whether or not a man possesses, or strives to possess, said virtues, which, I will agree, cannot be programmed into anyone. Men do indeed make the fraternity, but they are top men because of their personal worth, not their background or (dis)abilities.